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proper wording.“
“Indeed,” said Geraldine. “Posted bail. Anyway, Emma and Trevor remember, but for the rest
of you, there is this most ridiculous law that states women cannot take a boat out on the Thames and
my committee for the expansion of women’s rights went down to the waterfront to protest. Only they
sent out the coppers to arrest us and thus dear Trevor and I became intimates.”
“I’ve always wondered at how the two of you initiated your friendship,” Rayley said. “Welles
usually isn’t the type to mix in high society.”
Behind Geraldine’s shoulder, Trevor made a rude gesture at him, to the great amusement of
Davy.
“As always, I admire your pluck, Auntie,” Tom said. “Women should most certainly have the
opportunity to capsize into the Thames right along with the men. But what on earth do suffragettes
have to do with blindfolds?”
“We had chained ourselves to a tree,” Geraldine said, “and when the coppers put us in the
wagon they left us bound up. One of them in particular was a most rude young man and he said
something along the lines of if we wanted the chains, then by God we should have them. And then he
said he didn’t want the ladies to be cold so he pulled down our hats and raised our mufflers so that
we couldn’t see and could barely hear.”
“Gerry,” Trevor said in genuine surprise. “You’ve never told me this part.”
“What was the name of that man?” Rayley said. “Do you recall, Miss Bainbridge?”
Gerry impatiently shook her head. “It was years ago, darlings, and that’s not the point of my
story. When we got down to the station and Trevor came in to take our statements, he was so
respectful and such a gentleman, that it was like the rain suddenly stopped and the sun broke through
the clouds. And then of course Emma arrived and gave him the money to let us all out. But I raise
this memory for one reason alone. During the time we were chained and rendered unable to fully see
or hear…it was no more than a few minutes, a wagon ride across town, but the man’s cruel mission
was accomplished. We were all of us lessened by his actions. Cowed. Humiliated. I went into his
wagon one sort of women and came out quite another.”
Emma was given pause. If a personality as powerful as Geraldine’s could undergo a
psychological shift in a matter of minutes, it did indeed seem likely that a blindfold might have a dual
purpose – not merely to obscure a woman’s vision but to also render her passive.